A bit of Socratic logic: Neil Patrick Harris has proven himself to be a talented host of award shows.

CBS, the network upon which Harris stars in “How I Met Your Mother,” will broadcast the Emmy Awards this fall.

Therefore: Is Neil Patrick Harris the logical choice to host this year’s Emmys?

In addition to the Tonys — which he opened with some very funny stuff and closed with a riotous song, including a joke about how “singing on your knees” is the way to win Golden Globes — Harris did a yeoman’s job hosting the TV Land Awards in April.

Furthermore, he obviously likes this stuff. He actually told the New York Times that “I love the hosting thing,” something that separates him from the many who rightfully view award shows as a sort of thankless task.

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After last year’s misguided experiment with a quintet of reality hosts, the Emmys are likely to try and get back to basics a bit. Yet while that might augur going with Craig Ferguson, host of CBS’ “The Late Late Show,” Harris could be a more logical fit. He’s been nominated for “Mother” and it’s a show CBS would like to prop up as the series slides down to 8 p.m. in the fall.

Actually, the really logical choice would be David Letterman, assuming that someone could convince him that the exposure would do him good in his goal of becoming No. 1 in latenight again. However, getting Dave to attend the Emmys, much less host it, has always been a problem — and I suspect that Oscar-hosting “Uma-Oprah” thing still sticks in his craw a bit.

Then again, the pitch to Dave could be about achieving a measure of redemption in more ways than one, reminding the TV world why he’s so highly regarded by critics and helping promote his program in the process. Just think of all the “Leno at 10 o’clock” jokes he could do on the night before Leno premieres.

At the least, CBS and producer Don Mischer have some interesting options. And I’m pretty sure that after last year, Jeff Probst isn’t one of them.

This web-only column first appeared as a post in Brian Lowry’s blog, BLTv.

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